Parks and Recollection - Mary Faber: Soda Tax (S5E2)

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

Broadway star Mary Faber joins Jim O’Heir and Greg Levine to discuss her recurring role as Pawnee’s Restaurant Association member Kathryn Pinewood. In this episode, they discuss soda cups large enough to hold a liquified toddler, the first cries for Leslie Knope’s recall, and the underlying attraction between Pinewood and another one of Leslie’s nemeses, Councilman Jamm.Got a question for the Pawnee Town Hall? Send us an email at [e-mail]!

We're getting together to talk about all the things we used to do The laughs, the passions, the little Sebastian's, the pits we fell into And we're putting it on in a podcast, then we'll send it up into the sky We're calling it Parks and Recollection Come on little podcast Spread your wings and fly Hello everybody, welcome back to Parks and Recollection I'm one of your hosts, Jim O'Hare Better known as Gary, Larry, Jerry, or even Terry

Oh wait, no, Terry and Barry. So many names. Oh, boy. And my co-host. Oh, I wish I could. I have so much trouble with your name. What is it again? It's Greg. Greg.

Greg. Most people remember that. Yeah. I remember that. I've said this before, but I often have people think my name is Craig, but it's Greg Jim. Well, Jerry had a whole career of being named the wrong name. That's right. That's right.

It's just what happens. Well, Jim, we should cut you the chase because we have a guest here with us today. Yay! She's a TV stage and a voiceover actor, played the big-hearted Kate Monster in the musical Avenue Q on Broadway, voiced characters

on animated shows like Big City Greens and Boss Baby Back in the Crib, co-started Apple TV's Life by Ella, played the fast-talking hardball-playing Restaurant Association spokeswoman Catherine Pinewood. Also, we happen to go to college together in real life. It's Mary Faber. Yay, hi. Mary Faber, welcome. I have to quickly jump in and tell you, so I'm in Kansas City doing

a theater gig. Yes. And there's a couple people in the show who are parks obsessed and, you know, just always happen. So I mentioned, oh, I'm doing a podcast tomorrow. And I said, there's a guest. And they said, who? And I said, oh, Mary Faber. And the one guy goes, Pinewood.

Like he was all in. Yes. He is anti-Pinewood. I definitely have been recognizing people who have been like, it's you. Yes, yes. Like she's, Pinewood is. We've talked about the show. We have very few unredeeming characters, I think.

Or like, just like this is who they are. And not to say that Catherine Pinewood, and we'll get into her story in this episode and the run she'll have on the series. But it just goes for it from the first scene we see her fully formed. Oh, yeah. Has a really strong take clearly on Leslie and her job and doesn't let up. Yeah. Yeah. Which must have been so fun to play.

It was incredible to play. I mean, just from the audition, just from getting the copy, I was like, so rarely are you given a gift of good writing like that where you're just like, oh, it's all there. I just need to show up. And she's still like probably one of my top three favorite characters. That's amazing. Mary, were you familiar with the show before you got the audition? Did you know much about it? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Big fan. Big fan of the show. Big fan of Amy. Yeah. Yeah. So it was major for me.

And Greg, did you recommend Mary or did it just happen that she got called in? Well, we were casting for this part and we needed somebody. And yeah, I mean, I don't want to, this isn't about me, Jim. Well, no, no, no. I'm just wondering, you know, because- No, I'm curious too.

I don't know the story. No, one of the nice things about being on Parks, they were all so generous. We could recommend friends. We could recommend, again, we're only going to recommend people we think would nail the role because we would do a table read and we think would nail the role because we

would do a table read and we would, you know, here's some new characters coming into the show and we could say to whomever, Mike or whatever, hey, I have this person, blah, blah, blah. And they would, I'm going to say, they never did not bring someone in that I recommended. Doesn't mean they got cast, but they never did not bring them in. And I thought that was lovely. Right. And that is true that we have the ability to recommend people and they would be brought in. And then they were judged just like everyone else. It wasn't they didn't get preferential like treatment or we only did. We didn't just watch like your audition versus everyone else's.

So I recommend it to Mike that we bring you in. And also there was the idea that we, I think, knew that this character would stick around for some time. Wasn't sure exactly how long and wanted to make sure we got someone who could deliver and could go head to head with a great comedy legend like Amy Poehler. Ah, ledge. Yeah. That's very sweet.

I wasn't aware. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's talk about the episode we're talking about, right? Let's tell everyone what we're talking about. Today's episode is called Soda Tax. It was written by Norm Hiscock and directed by Kyle Niewicek. It originally aired in September 27th, 2012. Ah, 2012.

How is that possible? Like, it makes no sense, but there it is. And I don't know if you know this, Mary, but Jim is one of the finest blurb artists in town. The guy can blurb a blurb better than most other blurbs. Yeah, it's just a thing. Every big casting director knows it. When there's blurb work to be done, I am the guy.

I'm the go-to. I really am. Blurb guy, yep. All right, Jim, give it to us. Okay, the blurb for this episode goes like this. Leslie is faced with a moral dilemma when she realizes her proposed city-wide tax and sugary drinks, while helping curb Pawnee's obesity crisis, could also lead to a possible recall of her city council position. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Ben struggles to hold command of his interns

when he discovers they all have high-powered Washington connections. And then back in Pawnee, Tom and Chris help Andy prepare for his police entrance exam. Again, another full, full, full episode of Parks and Recreation. Yes, there's not a wasted second. There's a lot of story, a lot of moments. And Jim, no notes on the blurb. It was a 10 out of 10 blurb. That's why I get the money I get, buddy. That's why I get paid. I'll earn my terrible keep

and talk about our notes then. The soda tax premise of the episode was based on the New York City soda ban and it was a proposed limit on the size of soft drinks in New York City if we remember this by Michael Bloomberg intended to prohib on the size of soft drinks in New York City, if we remember this, by Michael Bloomberg, intended to prohibit the sale of sweetened drinks measuring more than 16 fluid ounces. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, so Mary, tell us about coming on this show and the first day on set and these scenes. Do you remember what your first scene was? The first scene was the soda taxi. Oh, really? Right out the gate. That's amazing.

Yeah. I spent the first 10 years of my career doing theater in New York, musicals and stuff like that. And I moved to LA. I'm sorry, Mary. I have to just jump in because you can't just say it like that. Just so people know, she didn't just do a couple of musicals. She did How to Succeed in Business. She did American Idiot. She did Avenue Q. She said she did Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She did Hair, which I am wondering, did you go nude? And she did Chess. I mean, this is, that is a Broadway career.

That is, because I'm a big Broadway guy. Love, love theater. Love all of it. And you're so good. Oh my gosh. Thank you. Thank you. I'm terrible at this actor self-promoting.

I think Greg knows this about me. So I appreciate you saying that. Yes, I was on Broadway. Darn it. A lot. I had a great career. On Broadway, a lot. Thank you.

I really appreciate that. I love my time. I hope to go back at some point. You know, in 2012, I had just finished How to Succeed. And I wanted to come out to LA and give things a try. And so I was out here and Parks and Rec was my first job here. Oh, wow. It was my first gig. That's amazing. It was amazing and terrifying. Yeah. So yeah, I got, you know, I got the audition. And again, it was just this gift of like brilliant writing. And I and immediately I was like,

I know this person. Okay. And I locked in. It's a rare thing, you know, as an actor, like that doesn't happen all the time. And so I just, it was wonderful luck. And yeah, first day show up and I'm in the makeup trailer with Amy and Rashida and like terrified, but trying to be cool. And it was just great.

It's what everybody always says about the show. Everyone was lovely. You know, the vibe was just welcoming and playful. And yeah, you just feel at home right from the jump. You know, people always say, oh, they dread the first day of a job. We constantly have first days on jobs. It's tough. And so to show up to parks, and I've heard this from so many people, I love that it took all that

away, all that scariness. Because of course, you're going to be scared when you first show up. I'm still scared every first day of every first job. But to then get there and feel the comfort and feel the support of the other actors, I just think it makes a big difference in what goes on. Huge difference. Yeah. Well, let's talk. Let's jump right into the episode because we have so many great scenes with Mary in

it and so many great scenes to talk about. Let's synopsize. Still working on the Murray campaign in Washington, D.C., Ben and April received care packages from Leslie and Andy filled with Leslie's favorite things and Andy's dirty laundry. Meanwhile, back in Pawnee, Leslie is waging a war on sugar. She sits down with Pawnee's Restaurant Association spokeswoman, Catherine Pinewood, to lay out her proposed bill, which would limit the size of the city's sugary drinks. However, her efforts are met with resistance from Catherine, who threatens massive job layoffs in the restaurant sector should the bill pass. You know, just a normal setup for a big comedy episode, just like layoffs and bills and taxes and everything.

Yeah. But, you know, we spent an entire season before this on an election storyline, and we were very conscious in the room of making it both interesting, but also not to get too mired in the details of election stuff. And to keep it a hard capital C comedy. And then all of a sudden she's

on the city council, and you gotta do what the city council does, which is like, they do bills, and they debate things. Their job. Right, and so now it's like, they do bills and they, they debate their job. Right. And so now it's like, all right, now we have this whole new job for her really for the first time in the

several years we've had the series. And that job could be quite boring. Right. Just like, I think when people hear you're going to do a show set in the parks and rec department of a town in Indiana. Yeah. But how do we make it funny?

And I think the same way we thought of storylines like doing a gay marriage episode with penguins to doing like building a wall or whatever with another city, there was this story like, how do we do funny in city council? And the Bloomberg story was happening. And so here we had a soda tax and we already knew we had a Ponch Burger.

And then all of a sudden we have a scene where Catherine Pinewood, where Mary is there playing Catherine and you see these comically crazy sized cups of soda. It's just insane. I forgot how big. I forgot the little swallow. Yeah, the little swallow. The little swallow is genius.

Yes, yes. And people just get it so they can have it for their kid's dollhouse. Right. Yes, it was a three-ounce. It's pretty much like a three-ounce Dixie cup that has like a Ponschberger logo on it. We also had the greatest props department on Parks. You know, Gay and Julie and the others, they just would create these amazing. I mean, because it really, they look awesome. They look real.

I could see purchasing one or two of those. Sure. In a heartbeat. Yes. And I also really love that on the props for those cups, it has both the name of the size, right? You have small or regular or child-sized, but then the amount.

We are advertising. And obviously, I think you need some of that for the comedy to nail so you know this is a large amount of liquid. But it's just so funny. Like, Punchburger, they don't care. They're like, we are proud of the fact that you're about to get 128

ounces of pretty much just liquid sugar. Yeah. And the thing that is tough on this one for Leslie, because no one loves sugar more than Leslie. Yes. Let's face it. Yes. Leslie loves her sugar.

She loves her carbs. She loves her waffles. She loves all of it. And yet she is proposing a bill that will take that away from people. And, you know, so it's a conundrum, I believe is the word. That's right. That's right. It's a bit of a conundrum. But she thinks she's doing the best that she can for the people of Pawnee.

Yeah, there's a great line in it that you had, Mary, where Leslie said, this is a horrifying 512-ounce version they call child-size. How is this a child-size soda? And you go, well, it's roughly the size of a two-year-old child if the child were liquefied. People quote that back to me all the time when they're like, I recognize you. You know, the two-year-old child. If the child were liquefied.

Because it's crazy. You have to understand if only the child were liquefied and can fill the container that we see in front of us. It's Pinewood logic. Yeah. Clearly, this should be obvious to you, Leslie. And what I loved about the delivery is that it's just, like, it's someone who fully believes in their mission,

their job, their point of view on life, right? I sense like, oh, there's no debate in her mind. Like, this is it. I believe in this. I believe in this mission. I believe in my job and I'm going to nail it. Yeah, this was matter of fact. This is what this is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I believe in my job, and I'm going to nail it. Yeah, this was matter of fact. This is what this is.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think the casting specs actually said, like, oh, Aaron Eckert in Thank You for Smoking. And so I went and I watched some of the clips from that. And it is exactly Pinewood's energy. That's so funny. Yes.

No shame. No shame. And totally strong in her conviction. Yeah. Yeah. It, yeah. It's amazing. And I think it's great because it was a great energy to have against Leslie, who is exactly the same way, but in a much more altruistic way.

You know what I mean? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, Leslie is, yeah, altruistic is the right word. Yeah, Pinewood, no. No, she's got an agenda. Yeah. I don't want to skip over this amazing cold open. I totally forgot about it.

It's such a great comedy game of packages from home and what's inside of it that Leslie sends waffle mix in a spray can. JJ diner mug and new pajamas, which sounds great. So cozy. April gets a stuffy three-legged dog resembling champion. Picture of Andy wearing a bandana as his underwear. Literally, they show the picture of andy in the bandana and of course his dirty laundry he sent her his dirty laundry because she's so good at doing laundry right that's genius and also we can't forget the box that ben got was one of 12 i believe yeah yeah one of 12 imagine what believe. Yeah, yeah. One of 12.

Imagine what was in the rest of that stuff. I imagine a lot of many great, I mean, she's one of the world's greatest gift givers. I imagine a lot of good stuff. In the whole world, yeah. There's a great note in our notes about the list of Pawnee Burger places. Yeah. There's Ponch Burger, there's Big and Wide,

there's the Fat Sack. The Fat Sack. Yeah, just write on it. And Colonel Plum's Slop Trough, which is formerly Sue Salad's until they ran it out of town. Oh, poor Sue. Poor Sue.

She was dedicated. It just didn't play out. Yeah, yeah. Pawnee has no time for salads. So, I have another question, Mary, about, so you're doing your first episode here. Did you know at the time you were going to be on for, I think you wound up being

on for six episodes? No, I had no idea. In fact, I think Mike told me later, he was like, your character wasn't supposed to. So it's a surprise that you're telling me, oh, maybe we'll bring her back. Because I thought it was a one and done. I think the idea was just to have somebody, we knew

for sure this episode, but to have something fun about Parks is that we try to bring people back. Exactly. And once I started to meet some of the other recurring guest stars, I was like, oh, once you're in the world,

you're just always in play. You could be thrown in at any minute. So every time I got a call, I was just like, yes, I'm in. And Greg, let me ask you this as far as the episode goes. So did you guys in the writer's room, was it already laid out that even though Amy is now a city councilman,

that very quickly there's going to try to be a recall? You know, it's interesting because as I was watching it, I forgot how quickly we mentioned it. Oh, yeah. Like in this episode, he stands up. Let's recall Leslie Knope. Yeah, I'm not positive. And I want to, I can go through the notes. We can come back to it in a future episode.

But what I think, what my memory recalls is that when we broke this season, you know, we always do a first few weeks before we started writing specific episodes and the writers would meet and we would talk about just general stories for maybe the first 8 to 13 episodes. And where do we want to take our characters? Are there any big plot points we want to build to? What's the first arc going to look like? And I think one of the things talked about is would we try to do an end to her

run in City Council? Would we try to do a recall? Would she resign? Would it be some kind of scandal? And so I feel like perhaps the point of this was a little bit to potentially set up where things could go. I don't think at the time we knew for sure that we would get to that point. But it became a great point of conflict for her to be like, I just got my dream job. And already it's at risk because of my first thing I'm doing.

At the first meeting, someone's calling for a recall. Right. Yeah. I do remember, actually, the last line where Leslie's saying, you know, sometimes my enemies become my best friends in the end. And I was like, okay, that was a little glimmer. Oh, really? A little glimmer of hope. I was like, okay, maybe I'm coming back.

Oh, you're coming back with a long arc. She has a few enemies. So, you know, I couldn't assume it was about that. That's true. I was reading, people were also talking about that Leslie and Catherine have the kind of lookalike. that Leslie and Catherine have the kind of lookalike. There's like the same kind of vibe about them that they're, you know, they were blonde. And I can't remember if that was intentional or not.

So that in a way, Leslie was looking at like, like in a mirror darkly kind of way, right? Like how things could have gone for her. Right. Evil version. Yeah. Evil sliding doors. Yeah.

Yeah. A lot of people said that about me and Rob Lowe. Yeah. Like, are they trying to purposely have them look so much alike? The before and after. Yeah. What's that about? Yeah.

At one point, there was talk of always putting our names under as we were on the screen so people wouldn't get confused who was who. And I think we have to move on with our story. But, you know, one of the big questions is, do we all call it pop or soda? I call it pop. I'm Midwest Chicago. It is pop, pop, pop. I'm in Kansas City right now.

Everybody says pop. Soda. Soda. I grew up in the South. So, yeah. Yeah, I was. No, that's a Midwestern thing, though, for sure. Oh, big time.

Pop. Yeah. Let's move on with our story then. Back at the Parks Department, Tom and Chris have volunteered to help Andy get in shape for his police entrance exam. But beating the requirement of running two miles in under 25 minutes is proving harder than expected. No shame in that.

At the same time in Washington, D.C., Ben has met his nemesis in the form of an entitled intern named Ellis and is horrified to find one of the interns has drawn an unflattering caricature of him and hung it on the wall. Adam Scott in this storyline cracked me up. It's so funny.

So funny. Oh, my God. From the minutiae of talking about what the memo should look like and the font size. And the font, yes. Oh, to then going full 180. We'll get to it with the ultimate Frisbee scenes. When he's being cool in quotes, air quotes.

Oh my God. There's nothing funnier. When he's being cool with those, what he thinks is cool. We'll get some Zah, my bro. Oh my God. He's so wonderful at that. He's so great. And he's so confident about it. Like he said, I know how to be cool, right?

I know this. I can speak their language. It's so great. Yeah. But he's also so great about enjoying his authority over the interns, right? He says, they call me Devo because I can whip them good. Oh, that is so cringe. That is so cringe.

It's so cringe. I know. And you can kind of see a twinkling in him like he knows. But maybe I'm pushing it too much. You know? Yeah. And it's so funny to spend that time when he's just naming all the fonts. And then he pops in.

And size 12 is the way to go. 13's just obnoxious. Obnoxious. That's brilliant. Yeah. Okay. Andy getting in shape, the storyline. I feel like it was just the perfect little sea story.

Do you know what I mean? And let me just also throw this in about this whole storyline. Number one, there's nothing funnier when they're telling Andy about the two-minute mile, and he's like, two minutes under 25 minutes. That's a typo, right? That's not humanly possible. Well, it is. So many things to love about Chris Pratt,

whether he's 30 pounds overweight or looks how he looks today, which is, you know, this superhero dude, he has no body image issues. He is willing to just put it all out there. There's a scene in this where he's, he's running and he realizes it's all too much. And he just strips. He just strips. And even he takes off his shorts and he just lays flat on the ground. I don't know. If you can't love a guy for being that willing to just go there, I just love it. Yeah. I think if memory serves me right, he was also, I think he was gaining some weight for a role in the movie, right?

It was the delivery man. Yeah. And so he was in that certain, you know, the opposite version of getting Star-Lord bod, but it was, I'm going to gain weight for a movie. I think there was a time once when he just kept, there was like ice cream at Crafty and he just like ate like eight ice creams in a row.

Yeah, but there would also be times, not to give him his history to tell, but we were on set one day and a call came in and they had, I'm not going to say what it was all about, but he had to do reshoots for something and he had put on a couple of pounds and he hit the panic button.

He's like, falls to the ground and starts doing push-ups. I'm like, oh, I don't know that that's going to change anything at this point. But yeah, his weight would fluctuate between seasons because he'd come back and, you know, again, when you're happy with yourself and work and you're on an accepting show that everyone loves each other,

you eat, you have fun, and he did. But when it came time to get back in shape, my God, he did it. Like, wow. Wow. It tells you anything is possible, which is my fun segue for the moment when Tom says anything is possible. He's referencing NBA Celtics player Kevin Garnett from a 2008 postgame interview after he beat the Lakers in game six of the finals. And this moment's become a pretty famous gif. Although some people pronounce it gif. And some people in the Midwest call it pop, which is weird. Exactly. a pretty famous gif, although some people pronounce it gif,

and some people in the Midwest call it pop, which is weird. Exactly. I call it gif pop. Oh, that's interesting. Everything is pop. A gif, a meme, it's all pop. Hey, did you see that funny pop? Anything is pop. So no one knows what you're talking about ever, unless you're right in front of you and have the context. No, and I like to keep people guessing. That's great, which is good for a podcast, which is all audio and no one can see what you're pointing at. I feel like in a few episodes, Jim is just going to say the word pop over and over again. You got it. Let's keep popping, right?

Pop. I like it. Pop. Unfazed by Catherine Pinewood's threat, Leslie holds a public forum to get a better feel for the community's stance on her proposed bill, but comes away none the wiser. Meanwhile, Ben calls Jennifer Barkley to try and swap out his interns for a more respectful, hardworking batch. But once he realizes his current group of interns is highly connected, he does a hard pivot deciding to suck up to them instead, as we talked about. And back at the Pawnee Community College track, Chris helps Andy uncover his motivation

for becoming a police officer, leading to an existential crisis for Chris and a nudging from Tom to find a good therapist. Good advice at the end. We'll get to that. The Pawnee Town Hall. Pawnee Town Halls are infamous. They were so fun.

So fun. So fun to be a part of. I mean, the energy, we would talk about how you just create this. So fun to be a part of. I mean, the energy, we would talk about how you just create this world where like, there's a bunch of people and they all have different points of view and everyone's energy is just intersecting and it's comedy and it's chaos and it's fun. And this one was another home run. This was so fun. And as always, you know, this happens in our world. This happens

in our country. The craziness of these town halls is, yes, it's written for comedy and I'm sure we take it to extremes, but this goes on. People with little nuttier opinions, they're out there every day. And I have even gone down, you know, a rabbit hole on YouTube of town hall meetings where crazos are jumping up and just saying just the wildest stuff you've ever heard. And I love it. Yep. Have either of you ever been, you've been to any town halls in real life? Yeah. I went, uh, town halls in Burbank and like, uh, now school board meetings I like to go to. And there's like, yeah, there's tons of characters and there's, and then there's always like the one

guy who, when he steps up to the mic everyone goes ugh this guy yeah yeah yeah yeah there's some real yeah I know people would talk to us about how like you

captured real life for us as city workers yeah absolutely this town hall has Mike Scully writer Mike Scully returning as Pearl

he says what's next after tax on soda? A tax on income? Whether or not I pay income taxes, none of the government's business. Leslie says, exactly the government's business. You don't know my name or what I look like, so good luck finding me.

Genius. And then en masse, his little crowd walks out after they realize that this is not going to go their way come on fellas come on fellas

yeah he had his own group it's so good yeah and one other thing one other behind the curtains thing that kind of goes back

to casting and auditioning people is the guy who says so what the heck are we doing here when he's talking about he wants to tax women's

vaginas. And then is told that that won't be happening. He says, so what the hell are we doing here? Right. Oh my God. That audition cracked up the writing staff to no end because the livery was so unlike everyone else's. Everyone was

like, made it a very big thing and his was very nonchalant. So what the hell are we doing here? And that, and we would watch it just on random days. That audio, we've talked on the podcast and you may not know this, but in the writer's room I ran like a soundboard

of different sounds and theme songs and just different the audio cacophony of our room. And I clipped that sound. So what the hell are we doing here? That's so great. And I put it onto the soundboard.

So it really took off. It had a whole life onto its own. And so I'm watching this episode and I hear, so what the hell are we doing here? And it was just, it was a sense memory that just took me back. Yeah. Um, the interns, Ellis is Congressman Murray's nephew. a sense of memory that just took me back. Yeah. The interns. Ellis is Congressman Murray's nephew. Nathaniel is related to Donald Rumsfeld.

And Brittany's dad is Ben Bernanke's dentist. And this is in the episode after John McCain, Olympia Snow, and Barbara Boxer, right, are in. So we are definitely in the world of DC. And the guy who played Ellis, it's got this look

of just like schmuckiness. Oh, I wanted to punch him. You just want to punch him. Because he's just that kid who's been given everything. And now he's been handed this job. And the actor, I think his name is Pete Plozek. And he just, oh, he played it beautifully. There's this feeling of, I have the confidence of where I am in my adulthood, but my confidence doesn't match the experience, which I think was quite nailed in these scenes here. Jim, you touched on this a bit, but let's just call out a few great moments of when Ben's rowing out

in these cringy scenes with the interns that when he says to Ellis, Ellis, what's up, my male? Oh, oh. Come grab a slice of za, brah. What's up, my male? I think that makes me laugh more than the za. It's the worst. Yes.

Let's keep going with our synopsis. In an effort to endear himself to the interns, Ben sets up a game of ultimate frisbee before work. But when another caricature of him shows up, he drops the charade and confronts Ellis, who reveals that April has actually been behind the drawings the entire time, calling April Ben's daughter. Meanwhile, Leslie, in full meltdown mode from the weight of the proposal vote,

downs a gallon of mixed sodas and then throws up in the middle of the session, delaying the vote. Taking advantage of the recess, Leslie asks Ron for advice, who gives her a compass and tells her to fight for her convictions. Ron, always the voice of reason. I know. It's a great scene. Yeah, it's so sweet.

It is a great scene. Like, I tried to fire you, right? I know. It's a great scene. Yeah, it's so sweet. It is a great scene. Yeah. Like, I tried to fire you, right? He tried to fire her four times. Like, multiple times. Yeah, and he's not hiding it. He's telling her. She never would have known that if he hadn't said to her, I tried to fire you.

Right. Four times. It's this long walk of, like, I'm getting to a point that's actually going to be quite inspiring. But in doing so, I have to tell you something that is going to cause you some pain and distress. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And she was horrified. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was anathema to her that she would that he would want to do that. Right. Right. Right. Well, because in her mind, you know, she is and please, she is great at everything she does. So the

thought of being fired just would never even occur to her. It's like when the recall was happening. fired just would never even occur to her. It's like when the recall was happening. How is this possible? I mean, you know, because she, no one works harder, no one does better than Leslie. And so, yeah, she was shocked. And Ron, her dear friend. Yes, yes, exactly. But the scene that sets this up is when Leslie can't decide what to do. There's this great line that you can see the setup when she's talking to Leslie and Anne are talking. So, I guess I'll just have to listen to my gut or do what my gut tells me to do, right? And then, of course,

her gut's going to tell her to throw up at the end of the act. And I love, Mary, they cut to you a few times and there's this great look that you give of just like, oh, that happened? Do you know what I mean? Like, oh, okay.

And almost like there was a sense of pride, I think, in Catherine Pinewood that, oh, I'm winning here. I bet like this lowly city council person can't compete with the business side of things. Well, remember, she showed her, you know, the press release that was going to happen. And it was frightening. I mean, it said, Leslie, because of her, hundreds of jobs are going to be lost. That's a big deal. And so, yeah, I think Pinewood is sitting there like, uh-huh, let's just get this done.

I did what I had to do. She knows what she has to do. And I'm going to win this. Yeah, your look was just like, ooh. I wanted to punch you, too. Yeah, it was so conniving and proud. And it was so conniving and proud and it was awesome. So you got the notes kind of like,

it's got like this Aaron Eckhart on and thank you for smoking kind of vibe. And do you feel like that as the episode went on and then you're going to have a run of six episodes on the show, which is awesome, that the character became something more than this version of it? Do you know what I mean? I think so. I went and I watched the next episode that I'm in

and all my scenes are with Councilman Jam. With Glazer. John Glazer. I gave Catherine this whole backstory. Actually, you guys might have just put it in my head a little bit too, but she's so into him. And I was like, they're going to get together. And I'm going to make it happen.

Like, so Catherine Pinewood was like, I'm going to destroy Leslie. And then I'm going to get my dream. Oh, that's amazing. Wow. That's amazing. Yes, I love your answer. I love that. That's so good.

I was like, I'm going to will it to be. Oh, that's great. Jam and Pinewood. Oh, what a terrible combination. That is terrible. Didn't happen. No. But that's all right.

It was still fun to play those scenes with him. He's such a genius. He's so funny. So funny. Yes, we talk also. There's something for a long time. He's a very unredeeming character, but you kind of feel bad for there's something kind of broken in him and then we'll

get to season 7 I think you start to be like oh this guy could be a real human being but now it's going to be so fun Jim when we go through this series of the season as we go forward and we get to see the scenes with Jam and Pinewood and get to see Mary playing this version

of it right? Trying to get her man oh that's so great. So now that I've told you, you're going to be like, obvious. Yeah. Boy, would you guys have been the shitty power couple. Oh, yeah.

And a terrifying duo for Leslie, right? Yes. Just evil incarnate. Yeah. I mean, really. And who love each other. And what would that look like? What is date night?

It would be very tender. Tender. Tender lovemaking. Yes, very tender. Yeah. Okay.ender lovemaking. Yes, very tender. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Just a handshake. Sorry, guys. No, no. It's okay. Also, I just want to bring up the scenes with Leslie and Anne. The love that they truly do have for each other. Anne is so concerned about Leslie, but she knows she's nutty with the sugar. And Anne looks to her because she walks, at one point, Leslie walks in and Anne says, oh, you look whatever, not great or whatever. And Leslie goes, well, you don't look good either.

And then she immediately corrects herself. Oh, Anne, you always look beautiful. Like there's- She can't, she can't help it. She just can't help it. I just, I love when they're together. I just love when the two of those characters are together. Because even when they say something that's not right, the other one gets it.

And then they correct each other. And for me, you know, I'm a big TV guy. I think it's one of the greatest female relationships in television. I really believe that.

Yeah. And the energy on camera and off, is there, for that to be my first scene opposite the two of them, I mean, Oh yeah,

they're buddies. It was just clear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The caring, the caring and the respect. Yeah, definitely. It was a great energy to be around. Yeah.

I think Leslie and Anne is the backbone of the series, really, because she's one of the greatest change agents for Leslie's character, especially in stories like this. And we saw in Sweetums in season two, Anne is the voice of reason, and she's stern about it. She has strong convictions. A character I think sometimes plays a great support role for our A story,

has great agency in the A story because she has a really strong point of view here. And you feel it in every scene that Rashida's in this and Anson. They're some of my favorite scenes in the story. And this is an episode filled with ultimate Frisbee scenes where Ben says stuff like,

rock that scuba, which I believe is a Frisbee reference. He's not just like making up gobbledygook. It's a Frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside down with a forehand grip and thrown in front and across the body. I don't know that because I'm physically inept at most things, but that's an amazing note. Thank you, Lisa. Yeah, I didn't know that was a real thing. And Jerry

super glued his fingers together. Jim. Yeah, that's what Jerry does. That just happens sometimes. It's so great. It's a psych gag. It's wonderful. And it's the knuckles. And it's out of nowhere. They're having a conversation. He just walks in and he has super glued his fingers together.

Now, that being said, I may or may not, Jim O'Hare may or may not have gorilla glued his fingers together at some point. That may have happened. It is. In a significant way, like in a. Well, in a panic way, because I didn't know what to do, and I thought, am I going to rip my skin? Like, literally, it was to that point. Yeah.

Yeah. Sad but true. It's scary. But I also really love, you know, when I picture super gluing my fingers together, it's like the fingertips. Well, that's what I did, yeah. The fingertips are the most of the work.

But I think in the episode, it's more the knuckles have been super glued together. Yeah. Well, that's what I did, yeah. But I think in the episode, it's more the knuckles have been superglued together. Yeah, something has gone very bad. Something's gone very wrong. So not just is he bad at using superglue, he's got a weird use of his hands. I don't know how the man does anything.

It's almost as if he dipped his knuckles and then wrapped them together. I don't understand. Just to see if, oh, Superglue couldn't actually do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I'm strong enough. I can pull it apart.

Yeah, not good. Yeah. Oh. Let's go to our, I think it's our last synopsis of the episode. The boost from Ron is just what Leslie needs,

and with her confidence restored, Leslie votes in favor of the soda tax, and the measure passes three to two. Meanwhile, back in Washington, Ben confronts April about her bad attitude, and in an act of redemption, April lays the hammer down on Ellis, forcing him to finish his work on the campaign website and proving her loyalty to Ben in the process. I want to just quickly talk about this April moment. I'm going to read the quote and

what April says. My problem is you smell us. She's talking to Ellis now, one of the interns. Ellis. Yes, thank you. Ben told you to finish that website and if you don't do it, I swear to God, I'm going to murder you in your sleep. I know where you live. 14th Street, right? I'm going to get a melon baller and scoop your eyes out

and eat them and your congressman uncle is going to have to buy you a dog to drag your eyeless face around. Now, I read that here, me, Greg Levine, reading it, and I know we all watched the episode. I'm not saying I'm doing any better. Go watch that scene again. That's Aubrey

Plaza reading that. You know, that's terrifying. Terrifying. As Mike says, he's still afraid of her. She just has that presence. You don't just believe April's going to doifying. As Mike says, he's still afraid of her. Yeah. She just has that presence. You don't just believe April's going to do that. You believe Aubrey, the real human, will do that. And there's a take in like the fun runs, which I want to talk about with Mary after this,

where Aubrey goes full Aubrey with the guy who played Ellis. And after reading in the right act here, gets super close to his face and says quietly kiss me and you can tell watching this moment that the actor has no idea what to do like am I supposed to go for it like I'm acting we're doing this and it's what do we do and do I kiss her do I not

didn't happen but it's so funny I think that actually might be on YouTube we should try to find it it's a great moment and it's so right. I think that actually might be on YouTube. We should try to find it. It's a great moment. And it's so right in his face. Like, she is right up him. Yeah. Mary, Jim and I talk a lot about the fun runs that happen on the show. You have some moments, you have some favorites.

And what was it like being able to just like unleash and have fun? Knowing you had to stick to the story, but just to have fun in the scene. Oh man. I mean, the show is stacked with brilliant improvisers and some of the most insane, brilliant tangents I've ever witnessed. I saw on the set of Parks and Rec. And going back to what Jim was saying about being a guest star, you know, I feel like I spent so much of my time just like trying to like just stay on the train and not like screw it up. So a lot of that time I was just like trying to not make wrong move, even though it was like such a welcoming environment and nobody would have judged me like. But I don't have any moments of just like brilliance that I remember on the fun runs because I was taking everything in. It was so many amazing. And that is what it's like to be a guest actor because you're kind of, there's a little fear, like, can I join in in this? What's going on here? And believe me, I know that feeling a hundred percent. Watching people like Amy do her thing. And then people like

Ben Schwartz come in and oh my God, I could sit and watch him just all day long. But it's intimidating because you're like, damn, can I play in this pool? It's, it can be scary. I made Amy chuckle with like a couple of things. I remember being like,

yes. That must felt really, that feels good. Yeah. I get that. Well, this goes back to how Mary and I first met, which was that in college,

we did improv comedy together. We were in an improv troupe. For me, just personally, I'm a freshman at college. I've been there for a few weeks. I'm like, I think I'm going to try out for this thing. I didn't know if people thought I was funny

who would have not known me growing up, who I didn't go to school with for forever or whatever. Here are these brand new people. And I auditioned with all these other people who are also funny. And it was making people like you, who I had seen perform the last few weeks, who I thought, these are funny people, making them laugh, especially as a creative,

like to see someone like, I recognize your creativity. I recognize that you're good at this thing. Separate from me thinking you're a good person, I think you're good at it. I remember you walking in. I remember because you weren't an over-the-top kind of improviser. You were quiet. You had references that Emo Phillips,

I had never heard of before you. You were so obsessed with him and his style of comedy. And you brought an element that we really needed in the troupe. I was co-president at the time. That's right. Oh, wow. I had a very strong idea about, you know. What we needed.

And you were so precise and a story builder. And now look at you. Now look at me. Now look at you. Look at me. Oh, wait. Don't make me look. Please don't make me. Now look at me. Now look at you. Look at me. Oh, wait. Don't make me look. Please don't make me look, Mary.

Please. Stop it, guys. This isn't about me, although we're not talking about it. But we've come to my favorite part of the podcast where Jim tells us about his crap, which is the crap we didn't get to talking about in today's podcast episode.

Jim, what's your crap? The one thing I don't think we talked enough about quickly is's podcast episode. Jim, what's your crap? The one thing I don't think we talked enough about quickly is Chris Traeger. Yes, great point. He went from being, oh, I'm going to put, you know, we're going to make Andy into this, you know, wonderful guy.

He can do this police thing to realizing his life is nothing. He might as well die. You know, he's just a mess. I think that was a really, and I think, you know, Rob was just so funny, in general, falling to the ground when they yell start, they're both going to do a lap,

and he collapses immediately. And we mentioned this earlier, but Andy saying he's getting in shape because he can already do butt squeezes. If that's the case, I've always been in shape. Yeah, yeah, sure. Always been in shape. That's it. And the other thing, I love the water zero. 300 calories per serving. And well, what does zero mean? Well, there's zero water. Yes, there's zero water in there.

I'm sorry. That's just brilliant writing. And then Aziz hasn't gotten much mention in this episode, but he was helping Rob get Chris into shape. And you know, Aziz, it's got to be what's the coolest thing. And so he turns the golf cart into this modified golf cart. And now it's amazing. But then as I always say with anything with Tom, where does the money come from? How the hell does he afford? It's got speakers. It's got tires. It's been decal. Yeah. Custom paint job.

Yeah, yeah. Yes. In a record time, too. He has someone who can do it quite quickly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's unbelievable. So, yeah, those were some of the crap that we forgot about. That's great crap. Some of your best crap, I have to say.

And, you know, my favorite thing to call out, we had a thing on the show where a lot of our episodes have either a gift given, a party thrown, or someone gets a new job. It's Gifts, Parties, and Jobs. And Ron gives Leslie a compass as a gift in today's episode of Gifts, Parties, and Jobs. So, Jim, Mary, it's time to talk about our MVP. We are Most Valuable Pawnean.

Well, first of all, we have to say Mary because she created this nasty Pinewood. I mean, we love you, but, you know, whatever. And, of course, it's always hard, you know, Amy, Leslie, amazing. I'm going to go with Ben because of his zahs and his bros and my dudes. And the way he played it is just brilliant. So I'm going to go Adam Scott. Great.

Mary. Oh, I didn't know this was going to go Adam Scott. Great. Mary. Oh, I didn't know this was going to be a question. I know, but it's pressure now. It's hard to answer this. There are so many brilliant people. We have our NPR voices. Mary, before you answer, keep in mind, Jerry did make an entrance with glue. So just keep that in mind before you say who's the MVP. Some call him the glue of today's episode.

Well, I was going to say, you guys, I don't know if you want to classify it as MVP, but between the Jerry moment and the Retta moment, she says something kind of lascivious to the boys. She wants to see those boys work out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Donna is like, where are you going to be?

I don't know. I just love her. Yeah. The looks that she gives. I love her yeah me too always lovely to see her I want to also just echo Jim had mine in our regular cast

I think Adam this version of Ben cracks me up we see versions of this come up later on when he's with the accountant guys and just this pride and this vibe of I'm better than you for a second when he's talking

to the interns. And then that same comedy of I'm trying way too hard to be great with them. I love it. And Mary, we've watched a lot of episodes. We talked a lot about this show. And you see a lot of characters come in, and especially ones who stick around.

And I think that they become over time. You can see them becoming. And I was just so struck by that first scene right at the get-go. Like, oh, that's Catherine Pinewood, like to a T. And the fact that that was your first scene with her means that when you came in,

you just had this character fully formed in your head. And I think that's awesome. And the other thing, Marion, you know this about the business. The fact that you ended up doing six episodes, that says all you need to know about what you were giving. Because at this point, you know, it's a machine and it's happening and they can get different people to do different things. But you nailed it. And you know that the writers are like, oh, God, okay, now we got this character. She's good and we're going to play with her.

That means so much. Thank you. Oh, it's how it is. It was so much good luck. And I remember one of the recurring guest stars said to me, it's never going to get better than this. You're new to LA. Just have a good time. It's never going to get better.

I mean, I've been on wonderful sets. Yeah, yeah. Truly. Yeah, they're unicorn shows, I think. Lucky, lucky. Yeah, I agree. Well, thank you, Mary, for joining us today on this episode. Jim, always a distinct pleasure to be here talking with you.

Esteemed pleasure, yes. But wait, we never got Mary's answer. Were you nude during Hair? Oh, no. It was a concert version. pleasure, yes. But wait, we never got Mary's answer. Were you nude during hair? Oh, no. It was a concert version. Oh, okay. No, we just wanted answers. Nope, nope.

Never, never. As a classified pervert, I did just need to know that. Jesus. Jesus. I appreciate your follow-up. Yes. Well, thank you all. I'm investigative.

I am 60 minutes. Thank you. Thank you all for listening. Thank you. I'm still rambling, but thank you. Thank you for listening. Text this episode to your group chat. Start a group chat so you can text them about this.

Give us five-star reviews wherever you're listening. We love them. I need them. I need those reviews. Thank you to Mary Faber for joining us today. And from all of us here at Parks and Recollection, goodbye from Pawnee. Bye-bye.

Parks and Recollection is produced by me, Lisa Berm, and engineered by Joanna Samuel. The podcast is executive produced by Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson, and Nick Liao. Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kahn are our talent bookers, along with assistance from Maddie Ogden. Our theme song is by Mouse Rat, a.k.a. Mark Rivers, with additional tracks composed by John Danek.

Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Parks and Recollection. recollection. This has been a team Coco production.